Chapter 1: Point Insertion
A/N: I get a lot of ideas staring at the wall in the shower. Please R&R.
"I feel sick."
After everything that happened, from the angel war, to the psychological ruin, to the hospital, to the attack on NERV, to the Mass Production Evagelions, to waking up on a beach with Shinji Ikari's hands around her throat, Asuka Langley-Soryu felt sick.
Now, Shinji Ikari was crying on top of her.
When his crying turned into silent sobs, she mustered up some feeble strength to nudge him off of her. He simply rolled onto the sand curled in a ball.
Both teenagers were exhausted, so they just slept as the giant severed face of Rei Ayanami, also known as Lilith, watched them with a permanent smile.
When Asuka awoke, she turned her head to the side to see that Shinji had gotten up. This time, she wasn't being strangled and had a little more energy, so she pushed herself upward into a sitting position. She twisted her body around to look for Shinji, cracking her back in the process. It felt okay.
Sure enough, there he was. Same stupid school uniform, same stupid posture, same stupid look on his face. She wanted to get up and kick him in the stomach, but for some reason couldn't bring herself to at the moment. Maybe later.
Instead, she drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself while he stood behind her. For a while they just stared at the giant head of a dead god.
"Find anything?"
"No."
She sighed. "Of course."
"What can I do? There's nothing around."
"Not even some food? God, if I had known you'd be so useless, I'd have woken up and gone myself."
"Sorr-"
She stood. "No. 'Sorry' isn't going to fix things this time, Third. 'Sorry' isn't going to un-fuck Tokyo-3, and 'sorry' isn't going to bring my God-damned EYE BACK!"
Shinji just stood in silence for a moment, then sighed. Being his pre-Impact self wasn't going to help. "Well, we're stuck here, Asuka. And from the looks of it, it's just you and me, so if you wanna survive, could you be a bit nicer?"
"Nicer? You could've been a bit nicer when you used me as a porno magazine, Ikari! Or better yet, you could have been a bit nicer when you sulked in the cage while I was torn to shreds." She sneered back at him, stepping closer and searing him with her eyes.
Shinji stepped back a little. "Asuka, please! Work with me here!"
"HOW!? How in the hell am I supposed to work with you!? You're a coward, a pervert, and an idiot! You know, I actually kinda felt something for you before all of this, but time and time again you ignored me and chose that damn doll! So screw this, you're on your on, Third Child!" and she stormed off in the opposite direction.
"Wait!" He called out "You'd be on your own too!"
"I DON'T CARE!"
He let out a scream in frustration. "We have to work together, Asuka! We can't change the past now!"
Just then, an unfamiliar voice cut in from behind him.
"I beg to differ."
Shinji turned around to see a man he had never met before.
He stood a few feet taller than him, with pale, almost grey skin, light eyes, and dark hair. This dark hair was slicked back with a well-defined widow's peak. The man wore a dark blue business suit and carried a dark briefcase with a logo that Shinji didn't recognize.
What struck Shinji the most was the fact that the man appeared to be American, yet spoke proper Japanese.
Shinji stood stunned, and the man gave him an unsettling smile "Shinji Ikari in the flesh." He said, really stretching out the last word.
"W-who are you?" Shinji asked.
"Who I am is unimportant at this time, but there are more pressing matters at hand." The man replied, again with perfect Japanese in a very raspy-sounding voice.
The scenery changed around him. Instead of being on the beach on front of a sea of LCL, Shinji now found himself on a train, similar to the on in his dreams, but everything outside was black instead of orange, and there were lights inside the train.
"What do you mean?"
"The pressing matters in question are this: Your services are required elsewhere." He answered, which put a fire in the boy's stomach.
"Seriously!? You really want me to get back in the damn Eva after all this!? No way! Just send me back to the beach, I'll just die there." He all but shouted in reply.
The man didn't even hesitate in his response. "I was made aware that you would be hard to convince, so perhaps I need to... 'sweeten the deal,' as it were."
"What?"
Instead of getting an answer from the strange man, Shinji's answer was given to him in the form of a flash of green next to him.
When the flashing stopped, he saw a girl next to him.
Red hair, red plugsuit, bandages. Oh no.
"What- WHERE THE HELL AM I?" Asuka screamed. She turned to the mystery man "Who the hell are you," then she turned to Shinji "And what the hell are YOU doing here!?"
"Good to see you too, Asuka." The boy replied.
Before she could continue her tirade, the man interrupted. "Asuka Langley Soryu. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Her anger went away, replaced with confusion. "Wait, you know who I am? How?"
"Yourself, along with Ikari, are 'persons-of-interest,' in a sense, and my e-e-employers took notice of your actions. You see, my employers have certain things that need to be in the right place. However, certain major events, known to you as the "Third Impact," have hindered their goals. Therefore, they sent me to seek your services." He answered.
"Well, you can leave this idiot here. All you'll need is me!" She boasted.
The man gave a grim expression "I'm a-afraid I cannot do that. My employers explicitly stated that you are both required."
The two looked at each other for a moment, then back at the man "Can you give us a minute?" they asked in unison.
"I will allow it."
With that, the two backed away from the man, turning away and getting into a two-person huddle.
"I say we do it." Asuka said immediately.
"What!? What if he's lying to us? We could be killed!" Shinji said back.
"Well, it's better than whatever hell we were already in."
"We should at least ask if we have options or something..."
"Ugh, fine, but if we don't, you owe me."
"Deal."
They turned back around.
"So, do we have any say in the matter? Like any options?" Shinji asked.
"Well, I can send you to your Evangelions and send you into a battle you cannot win. I recall the white beasts giving you a struggle." The main said with a smirk.
Asuka slapped Shinj on the back of the head. "Told you."
She then straightened up "Okay, we accept. What do you need us to do?"
The man smiled. "Wise choice, Miss Soryu and Mister Ikarii. Please, step into the portal. I will see you up ahead."
He stepped aside, and a green portal opened up where he was standing. The two children looked at each other, then walked side-by-side into it.
There was a flash of green.
Then they were both in a black void.
"What the hell?" Asuka called out.
The man's voice came to them both. "When your time comes, you will be placed where you are needed to be."
Then, silence.
Shinji was looking at his shoes, then looked up at Asuka. "Well, we're stuck here, again."
She laughed sarcastically "Yup. this time I can't storm off unless suit guy opens another damn portal."
"He was kinda weird. I wasn't too uncomfortable until he called me 'Mister Ikari.' Made it sound like he was talking to my father." Shinji said with disgust.
"Well, you're no. You're his idiot son." Asuka said with a smirk.
"Ugh. Don't remind me."
She laughed, genuinely this time. "Who would've thought it took everybody dying for the Third Child to have a sense of humour?"
He just rolled his eyes.
"And what was up with that guy's voice? It was all raspy, and his stutter was worse than yours!"
"H-hey! I don't stutter that much!" He retorted, which was met with a snicker.
After a long pause of the two standing awkwardly in this void, Shinji spoke up again. "Look, Asuka. I wanna make it up to you for being an idiot, and a coward, and a pervert the whole time. If I keep apologizing, I'm afraid you might kill me. Instead, I want you to decide how I can make it up to you."
The girl gave some thought to his proposal, before stepping closer to him.
She locked eyes with him, and gave him a flirtatious look.
Then kneed him in the crotch.
Shinji bowled over in pain "AUGH! Jeez, Asuka!"
She just snickered. "I get four more of those, whenever I choose. Then I won't hold the hospital or any of it against you from here on out."
On his knees, cradling his precious gems, Shinji groaned "Ugh, fine."
Asuka laid down on her back. "Well, we're not gonna get anywhere by standing around, so I'm sleeping. If you wanna join in, lie on your side and face away from me."
Shinji sighed, and laid down on his side like she said.
"Are we even on a floor right now?"
"Don't make me think about this, Third. I'm trying to sleep."
"Sorr-" Nope. Kick that habit.
Once again, the two slept.
Shinji opened his eyes to see the mysterious man again. He looked around and Asuka was nowhere in sight.
Before he could say anything, the man began to speak "Shinji Ikari, yours and Miss Soryu's time has come again. It was... quicker than expected, but my employers seem to have gotten impatient. Your time came along conveniently, so this is where you get off. Remember this, Shinji Ikari: I am not so far away."
As the man finished speaking, he faded out of Shinji's sight, and he noticed he wasn't in a void anymore, but a familiar area, and he could hear a VTOL above him.
He turned around to see it flying away. Surveying the land, he realized where he was: The graveyard where Mother's headstone is, and the VTOL must have been Father.
So the guy dropped me off right after Father and I met, that was right before the 11th Angel, Shinji thought to himself. Oh gods, that kiss too. He cringed at the memory.
As he exited the graveyard, he noticed something that he definitely didn't remember: a blue Renault Alpine A310.
It took him a moment, but he realized who the driver was, and there was no mistaking it.
He approached the car, and the purple hair was a dead giveaway. Misato Katsuragi was alive, ans Shinji wanted to cry about it.
He reminded himself mentally that this seems to be the past, so Misato won't remember dying. Keep your cool, Shinji, he thought to himself
He opened the door and got in "H-hey, Miss Misato."
"Hey, Shinji. How'd it go with your dad?" The woman asked.
God, I've never wanted one of your bear hugs so badly after the shit I've seen "Just about as well as you'd imagine with that man."
Misato laughed softly. "I can imagine, but hey, at least it's good that you got to see him, right?"
"Eh."
"Hey, it's okay, Shin. I'm here for you."
"Thanks, Misato. I'm glad."
The rest of the car ride home was relatively quiet, until they came upon an unusual sight: An angel, but one that Shinji didn't recognize: It had a very skinny frame, with a face and build similar to that of a bird-feeder.
Shinji watched as this angel took out boat after boat, like any other angel when faced with the JSSDF.
His shock continued when he noticed something overhead: a drop-ship.
Out of the drop-ship came a very familiar Evangelion, notably red.
Without a shadow of a doubt, it was Unit-02.
Asuka must be in there! Shinji thought to himself, and he watched in awe as Unit-02 pierced the angel with a crossbow-like weapon, then kicking down on it's core, similar to how he and her destroyed the other angel together.
Some time later, Shinji was standing at a hangar of sorts, Toji and Kensuke close by. He was careful not to be too enthusiastic in his greeting, he wasn't even sure what was going on still.
And where the hell was Asuka?
"Wow, Unit-02 is red!" Kensuke's voice snapped Shinji out of his own thoughts, as he turned around to see the now-dormant unit being moved.
"That's not the only thing!"
There she was.
He knew that voice from a mile away.
He turned and wanted to crack a massive grin, but held back.
Standing on top of her Eva, like they day they met, was Asuka. Same plugsuit, same hair, same eyes, even the same neural connectors in her hair, and she had all the pride in that posture. Visibly, there were not even any scars on her, as if the battle in the Geofront never happened. It was nice to see her again.
"Unit-00 and Unit-01 were the prototype and test type. Unit-02, my unit, is the top of the line! The production Evangelion!" The girl boasted before jumping off and sticking her landing perfectly.
She locked eyes with Shinji, who raised an eyebrow. Since she was facing away from everyone, she mouthed a phrase only the two would know.
'I feel sick.'
Upon reading her lips, Shinji felt relief wash over him. He knew they needed to talk very soon.
Before he could say anything, Misato spoke up.
"I'd like to introduce you to the ace of the European Air Force, Captain Asuka Langley Shikinami!"
Shinji's eyes widened, Asuka's did too for a split second.
Shikinami!? They thought simultaneously.
A/N: I hope this hasn't been done before. I'm aware that Relapse by shadowfang6421 has a kinda similar premise, with Shinji ending up in rebuild after a bunch of lives, but this is different. Mine is different because it's immediately after EoE. Also, the mystery man shouldn't be much of a guess, it's the G-man from Half Life! He's on one my fav fictional characters, and so is Shinji, so I made em meet! I'm still laying out ideas, but I thought I'd put this first chapter out for feedback. Updates will be a bit slow, especially while I'm writing Rei Grips and Yui's Words (coming soon!) Please review, and till next time...
Thanks!
Next time: Asuka moves in, and the two of them try and figure out what the hell is going on.